Celebrate Canada Day - Aloha to Kaylea Cross

Today is Canada Day ... and our grand finale of Celebrate Canada Week with Kaylea Cross!  From her bio,

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Kaylea Cross writes edge-of-your-seat military romantic suspense. Her work has won many awards and has been nominated for both the Daphne du Maurier and the National Readers’ Choice Awards. A Registered Massage Therapist by trade, Kaylea is also an avid gardener, artist, Civil War buff, Special Ops aficionado, belly dance enthusiast and former nationally-carded softball pitcher. She lives in Vancouver, BC with her husband and sons.

Learn more about Kaylea and her books at kayleacross.com.

Kim:  What is your favorite sight, sound, or smell of your corner of Canada?

Kaylea: My favorite sight is the ocean. I dream one day of living in a house with an ocean view. My favorite sound is a tie between rain on the roof (good thing, since it rains so much here!), a distant train’s whistle, and the sweet, trilling song of a robin early in the spring. My favorite smell is the scent of the woods. One breath and it takes me right back to my childhood days when I would roam the woods behind our house.

Kim: Do you have a favorite Canadian saying?

Kaylea: It’s no joke that we really do say “eh” up here. My mom’s side of the family especially. Her mom was from England, so I wonder if that’s how it originated. At any rate, we use it all the time. “Nice day, eh?”

Kim: What would you recommend a reader to see, eat, or drink to enhance their travel experience to Canada?

Kaylea: Oh boy! Of course Canada is HUGE, the second biggest landmass on earth, so there’s a lot to see. My favorite recommendations about something to see would be the gorgeous and rugged coastline or the Okanagan lake region here in BC, the magnificence that is Quebec City, and the ocean paradise of Nova Scotia, which is way out east in the maritimes. As for eating, of course we love our seafood out here on the West Coast, and our Canadian beef is pretty well known too. We’re not so much into maple here on the West Coast as in other parts of the country—it’s more of an eastern thing. To drink, we have plenty of Canadian beer and world famous wines. I don’t drink alcohol, but I’m told they’re excellent :).

Late Winter Reflections on Lake Okanagan
Creative Commons (link)

Kaylea celebrated her 10th novel in the Hostage Rescue Team series, RECLAIMED:

Sometimes love isn’t enough.

Summer Blackwell has endured her own private hell and fought her way through to the other side. She’s lost so much and her marriage has crumbled, but she refuses to give up hope. Just as she thinks there might be a chance to reconcile with her husband, things go terribly wrong during a job in Jordan when she and her team are captured by the enemy. Now, with every passing hour she’s one step closer to a horrific death at the hands of the radical terror group she was working to destroy. Escape is impossible. Unless her husband’s team finds her before the deadline hits, it will be too late…

And sometimes, it’s everything.

Special Agent Adam Blackwell is going to win his wife back, no matter what it takes. In spite of everything they’ve gone through, he’s never stopped loving her, and can’t imagine his life without her. He’s been on personal leave to mount a desperate campaign to save their broken marriage, but agrees to join his team for a one-off protective detail assignment in Amman. When the unthinkable happens and Summer is taken hostage by the most ruthless terrorist organization in the region, Adam and his teammates will stop at nothing to save her. But every day without a solid lead means the hope of rescuing her is dwindling, and now it’s a race to find her before the clock runs out.

I am giving away a book choice from my convention stash to one randomly selected commenter. To enter the giveaway,

1. Leave a comment about Canada - what do you know about our Northern neighbor?  What have you learned this week?  What do you love about the Maple Leaf country?

2. Comments are open through Saturday, July 2, 10 pm in Baltimore.

3. I'll post the winner on Sunday, July 3.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Cheakamus Lake at dawn, in Garibaldi Provincial Park, BC

Public Domain (link)